Punished for making the call to police

Jeanette DeMarco, 30, a manager at the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen, talks about what her life has been like since she made a call to the Fullerton Police Department the night that Kelly Thomas had an encounter with responding officers.BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Jeannette DeMarco, 30, never imagined that her report of suspicious activity would embroil her in one of the biggest local news stories in years, and turn her into a pariah, at least in the eyes of some.

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During the evening of July 5, 2011, DeMarco was working her job as shift manager at the Slidebar Rock-N-Roll Kitchen in Fullerton. She took a break and went out into the parking lot, where she saw a transient man she knew as Kelly – disheveled and shirtless — behaving in what she later termed a suspicious manner.

The man, Kelly Thomas, circled the parking lot, zigzagging between cars and pulling on door handles.

DeMarco, who recounted the evening recently from a booth at Slidebar, says Thomas' behavior prompted her to call police on a nonemergency line.

In a recording of the call, DeMarco's voice sounds calm if slightly annoyed.

"He's, like, pacing through the cars, and between each car, like, he's on an obstacle course through the parking lot," DeMarco tells the dispatcher. "I just walked out to my car, and he was walking toward me."

What happened next became national news:

Two officers showed up and questioned Thomas, who they knew as a local transient, for 15 minutes. Thomas ran, but the officers ended up on top of the homeless man. Two more officers appeared, and then two more.

A surveillance video of the incident appears to show officers striking and using a stun gun on Thomas. One officer apparently strikes the man with a stun gun.

Thomas is heard on the videotape screaming for help, yelling that he couldn't breathe and calling out for his father. Thomas, 37, died five days later, leading to criminal charges against three officers.

Later, while trying to piece together exactly what unfolded, investigators from the Fullerton Police Department, the District Attorney's Office and the FBI, along with an independent investigator hired by the city, interviewed DeMarco.

"All of these agencies have expressed that they had absolutely no reason to doubt or question Jeannette's observations or truthfulness," said Eric Dubin, a Slidebar attorney. "In fact, they have expressed that they found her to be very helpful and credible."

But in the months that followed Thomas' death, it wasn't only the actions of the officers that were vilified.

Jeanette DeMarco, 30, a manager at the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen, talks about what her life has been like since she made a call to the Fullerton Police Department the night that Kelly Thomas had an encounter with responding officers. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Jeremy Popoff, the owner of the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen, takes questions during a press conference. Popoff stated that his restaurant has been targeted by protesters and boycotted by rock bands because of claims that a bogus phone call from his restaurant brought Fullerton police officers to the area the night Kelly Thomas was beaten and arrested. Popoff's attorneys presented evidence that they claimed refuted the account of that night's events by former Slidebar bouncer Michael Reeves. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Jeanette DeMarco, 30, a manager at the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen, recalls what happened after she made a call to the Fullerton Police Department the night that Kelly Thomas had an encounter with responding officers. DeMarco claims she reported Thomas walking through the parking lot pulling on car door handles because it was suspicious behavior. She was in the parking lot on a break when she saw Thomas walking between cars. DeMarco says she is saddened by what happened to Thomas and by the numerous threats she's received since that night. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
In a surveillance video, taken by cameras at the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen the night Kelly Thomas had a confrontation with Fullerton police officers, Slidebar manager Jeanette DeMarco, top, is seen making a phone call to Fullerton police while bouncer Michael Reeves , center right, has his back turned and is talking with two other people.
In a surveillance video, taken by cameras at the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen the night Kelly Thomas had a confrontation with Fullerton police officers, Slidebar manager Jeanette DeMarco, top left, is seen making a phone call to Fullerton police while bouncer Michael Reeves , second from the right, has his back turned and is talking with two other people.
Surveillance video, taken the night Kelly Thomas had a confrontation with Fullerton Police officers, shows Thomas walking across the parking lot in front of the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen. This was shortly before Slidebar manager Jeanette DeMarco called the Fullerton police to report Thomas' behavior.
Lawyers for the Slidebar Rock-n-Roll Kitchen held a press conference to refute the allegations made by former Slidebar bouncer Michael Reeves, who claimed he heard the phone call that drew Fullerton police officers to their encounter with Kelly Thomas, that the call was bogus and he lost his job fighting it. The attorneys for Slidebar owner Jeremy Popoff presented surveillance video and video of their deposition of Michael Reeves. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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